A Primary School on road from Kenema to Panguma

These photos of a primary school teacher and his class was taken in the same village where there was a roof fire (see below). In walking about this tiny village, while waiting for transport, I came across this centrally located primary school. The teacher was running the class in this open-air classroom typical of up-country schools in those days. I took a number of photos of the class as they were being taught. Up-country schools had limited funding. Sierra Leone had challenges getting good teachers to teach in these rural schools. Life in these rural areas was slow and isolating. There was little impetus for young teachers to live in these rural areas. Most young teachers wanted to be in the big cities and for the most part in thse days this meant Freetown. Although pay for teachers was regular the pay was low and relied on school fees. For a primary school student school fees could be hard on parents. Most earnings in a year would amount to about $75. I remember school fees at the secondary level supassing the yearly earnings of most people. Primary school fees, although less, still were hard on families.